Inglewood Bowls Club to close this year

Former club president Dave Pearce, who has been a member since 1974, told 6PR this morning the club will close by the end of the year.

“The City of Stirling gave us 12 months to cease operations, because they are no longer putting money into the building and said we could bowl for another year but then we would have to fold,” he said.

“Their main justification was the building is passed its use by date and they won’t spend any money on maintenance or upgrading, therefore we have to find somewhere else to play bowls.”

Mr Pearce said it was a dated building but structurally sound.

He said the club was financially “in the black” but voted to “look for better pastures”.

“The club is now defunct; we had no future.” he said.

City of Stirling Recreation and Leisure Services Manager Cheyne Cameron said on 6PR a sporting clubs review started in 2016 raised “concerns about the viability of the club”.

“Each club was given a ranking of the resilience of the club to deal with the financial viability of the club, the participation levels and where they sat in terms of risk, their ability to adapt to financial situations if something in the club was to break down,” he said.

“Unfortunately Inglewood was rated quite low.

“We advised it was not viable for the City to further invest in bowls at that particular location.”

Mr Cameron said members could join other nearby bowls clubs and the City would offer them a subsidy to make the transition “as smooth as possible”.